TORY minister Iain Duncan Smith has attacked the European Union over "unwarranted and unwanted" interference over benefits tourism.

The Work and Pensions Secretary cited the example of migrants from southern and eastern Europe being able to claim benefits through selling the Big Issue in British towns and cities.

Mr Duncan Smith is planning to launch a fresh crackdown on benefits for EU migrants, including rules which could see individuals banned from receiving handouts for longer than three months and deported if they have no hope of finding work.

However, in a speech in Berlin last night, he hit out at EU meddling in the UK welfare system as it plots a "constant stream" of legal challenges to his efforts at reform.

The former Conservative leader accused European politicians of telling Britain "we will have to pay benefits to anyone who comes here from Europe, regardless of their circumstances" and that any steps against that is "akin to xenophobia", it was reported.

Following his speech, Mr Duncan Smith answered questions about British welfare policy, in which he made the comments about Big Issue sellers.

Mr Duncan Smith suggested British taxpayers are angered by a perception of welfare tourism among EU migrants, within which there is a "core element of truth", The Times reported.

He said: "A good example of that is the Big Issue, a magazine which is a brilliant idea by a brilliant individual who himself was homeless. It is wonderful.

“But actually what is happening progressively, more and more, is people mostly from southern and eastern Europe have actually ended up being Big Issue sellers and they claim, as self-employed, immediately, tax credits.

“So when we talk about benefits, they are not just out-of-work benefits, they are also in-work benefits that are being claimed."

People mostly from southern and eastern Europe have actually ended up being Big Issue sellers and they claim, as self-employed, immediately, tax credits.

Iain Duncan Smith

However, the Big Issue has refused to take the blame for holes in the Government's welfare policy.

A spokesman said: "The flaws which IDS has highlighted were inherent in a benefits system created by the government and, to that extent, the problem is the government’s and not one of [our] making.

“The Big Issue was set up to lift people into work and reduce the chance of people in need ever resorting to wrongdoing. By giving people a genuine hand up rather than a handout it is providing a real cost-saving for the taxpayer.

“If the government feels that the rules applying to in-work and out-of-work benefits need changing, then they need to look at that carefully.

"In the meantime, it is wrong to promote the idea that the Big Issue is doing anything nefarious or harmful in adding to a problem which is not of its making.”

The Department of Work and Pensions claimed the Government have already taken steps to stop migrants using the Big Issue to access handouts.

“We recognise that this was a loophole that was abused and that’s why, this March, we introduced the minimum earnings threshold of £153 per week,” a spokesman told the newspaper.